PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – On Thursday, October 3, 2024, the Attorney General’s Office searched the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MEF) over alleged corruption related to the management of illegal palm oil plantations from 2005 to 2024. Attorney General’s Office Public Relations Head, Harli Siregar, confirmed that witnesses would be called to provide statements.
Achmad Surambo, Director of Sawit Watch, expressed concerns about a lack of transparency in legalizing illegal palm plantations. He noted that government information on the process remains scarce, despite the Ministry’s formal publication authorization. “We attempted to obtain official data by submitting formal requests to the MEF, but the lack of positive response raises concerns over potential corruption,” Surambo stated, as reported by Palmoilmagazine.com on October 14, 2024.
He further referenced the Supreme Court’s decision on December 21, 2023, which upheld Government Regulation No. 24/2021 on Procedures for Administrative Sanctions in the Forestry Sector. “This ruling highlights that few legal entities face sanctions. Out of 3,690 registered entities, only 17 received forest release approvals, and 35 were issued administrative sanctions,” he explained.
Also Read: Attorney General Investigates MEF Office for Palm Oil Governance Corruption (2016-2024)
In detail, the administrative fine to pay would be about Rp 239 billion, forest resources provision or provisi sumber daya hutan (PSDH) would be Rp 61 billion, and reforestation fund would be Rp 13 million. Achmad said palm oil plantation bleaching would not maximally run and would potentially have the space to make corruption.
Ahmad Zazali, Chief of Pusat Hukum dan Resolusi Konflik (PURAKA) said that the organization analyzed the administrative sanction implementation for the planters without having legal permits until August 2022. He said that the cases were too slow to get the solution. From 1.192 legal subjects that should complete the data, only 240 realized it, and 15 legal subjects paid the fine.
Zazali emphasized it would need transparency in palm oil plantation bleaching. “The public should know what companies would get the bleaching, how much the numbers are, how much the companies have paid. There could be bribe and gratification about the numbers of fine,” he said.
Gunawan, Senior Advisor of Indonesia Human Rights Committee for Social Justice (IHCS) said that the sentence of the Supreme Court should be reviewed namely about the legal when sentencing. He thought, if the sentence was based on Undang-Undang Cipta Kerja, it was un-constitutional with some conditions. “Palm oil plantation bleaching process needs improvement. Do not let the policy would open the chance to make corruption,” Gunawan said.
Back to Achmad Surambo, he also said that palm oil plantations in Indonesia laid on about 18,15 million hectares. He hoped the search in MEF would deliver good news to accomplish palm oil plantations/industrial governance. “There are times to improve palm oil plantation/industrial governance and would need full commitment from every party,” he said. (P2)
